List of people who died on the Presidential Range

The Presidential Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire consist of a series of mountains whose maximum elevation reaches 6,288 feet (1,917 m) and represent some of the highest mountains in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Fatalities in this area are dominated by those that occur on Mount Washington, the highest peak in the range. It is notorious for its unpredictable and inclement weather, making it one of the deadliest mountains in the continental United States. Due to its unique location relative to other geographic features, it holds the world record for highest recorded surface wind speed not within a tropical cyclone. Huntington Ravine, on the mountain's eastern face, has been classified by local search and rescue teams as the most dangerous hike in the White Mountains due to high exposure and steep rock climbs and scrambles over cliff faces.^[1]

Mount Washington from Intervale, with Huntington Ravine visible on the right of the image

Sign posted by the US Forest Service in the Presidential Range of the White Mountain National Forest warning of the dangerous conditions beyond.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department conducts an average of 200 rescues a year for hikers in need of assistance.^[2] Mt. Washington itself has been listed among the ten deadliest mountains in the world.^[3][4]

Fatalities

The following table lists 178 known fatalities and missing persons within the Presidential Range. Many fatalities occur during spring, autumn and winter, particularly when the weather in the surrounding lower elevations is slightly above average for the season. Most fatalities are a result of exposure or falls.

Name	Date	Age	State or country of origin	Cause of death	Location	Mountain	Ref(s)
Frederick Strickland	October 19, 1849	29	United Kingdom	Hypothermia	Clay Brook	Washington	[5][6]: 6–13
Lizzie Bourne	September 13, 1855	23	Maine	Hypothermia	Summit	Washington	[5][6]: 18–25
Benjamin Chandler	August 7, 1856	75	Delaware	Hypothermia	Summit	Washington	[5][6]: 293
J. M. Thompson	October 4, 1869	Un­known	New Hampshire	Drowning	Peabody River	—	[5][6]: 293
William Stevens	February 26, 1872	Un­known	Un­known	Natural Causes	Summit	Washington	[5]
William Seely	July 3, 1873	29	New York	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[6]: 293
Harry W. Hunter	September 3, 1874	21	Pennsylvania	Hypothermia	Summit	Washington	[5]
Ann M Ives Chichester	July 3, 1880	Un­known	Michigan	Accident	Mount Washington Carriage Road	Washington	[6]: 293
Sewall Faunce	July 24, 1886	15	Massachusetts	Falling snow arch	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5][6]: 293
Ewald Weiss	August 24, 1890	24	Germany	Missing	Un­known	Washington	[5]
William Buckingham Curtis	June 30, 1900	63	New York	Hypothermia	Lakes of the Clouds	Washington	[7][5]
Allan Ormsbee	June 30, 1900	28	New York	Hypothermia	Summit	Washington	[7][5]
Alexander Cusick	August 23, 1900	Un­known	Vermont	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[6]: 293
John Keenan	September 18, 1912	18	Massachusetts	Missing	Summit	Washington	[7][5]
Harry Clauson	August 5, 1919	19	Massachusetts	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[6]: 294
Jack Lonigan	August 5, 1919	21	Massachusetts	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[6]: 294
Harriman	November 1927	Un­known	Un­known	Drowning	Jefferson Brook	—	[7][5]
Elmer Lyman	April 1928	Un­known	New Hampshire	Hypothermia	Pinkham Notch	Washington	[7][5]
Herbert J. Young	December 1, 1928	18	Missouri	Hypothermia	Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail	Washington	[7][5]
Daniel Rossiter	July 20, 1929	Un­known	Massachusetts	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[6]: 119–123
Oysten Kladstad	July 30, 1929	Un­known	New York	Drowning	Dry River	—	[7][5]
Henry B. Bigelow Jr.	September 18, 1931	19	Massachusetts	Falling ice	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Ernest W. McAdams	January 31, 1932	22	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Cog Railway	Washington	[5]
Joseph B. Chadwick	January 31, 1932	22	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Cog Railway route	Washington	[5]
Simon Joseph	June 18, 1933	19	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Old Crawford Path	Washington	[5]
Rupert Marden	November 11, 1933	21	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Jerome R. Pierce	September 9, 1934	17	Vermont	Drowning	Peabody River	—	[7][5]
John W. Fowler	April 1, 1936	19	New York	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Grace Sturgess	May 23, 1936	24	Massachusetts	Falling ice	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Harry A. Wheeler	July 4, 1937	55	Massachusetts	Heart attack	Caps Ridge Trail	Jefferson	[7][5]
Joseph Caggiano	August 24, 1938	17	New York	Hypothermia	Gulfside Trail	Adams	[7][5]
Edwin McIntire	June 9, 1940	19	New Jersey	Fall into a crevasse	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Louis Carl Haberland	October 13, 1941	27	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Caps Ridge Trail	Jefferson	[7][5]
John Neal	April 7, 1943	Un­known	Massachusetts	Injury while skiing the Little Headwall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Phyllis Wilbur	June 3, 1948	16	Maine	Injuries sustained from fall while skiing	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Paul Schiller	May 1, 1949	Un­known	Massachusetts	Fall while skiing on Headwall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Tor Staver	February 2, 1952	Un­known	Norway	Injuries sustained from fall while skiing	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Raymond Davis	August 23, 1952	50	Massachusetts	Hypothermia after collapse due to illness	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Philip Longnecker	January 31, 1954	25	Ohio	Avalanche / Hypothermia	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Jacques Parysko	January 31, 1954	23	Massachusetts	Avalanche / Hypothermia	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Aaron Leve	February 19, 1956	28	Canada /  Massachusetts	Avalanche	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Thomas Flint	June 2, 1956	21	Massachusetts	Fall	Un­known	Madison	[7][5]
John J. Ochab	September 1, 1956	37	New Jersey	Fall	Un­known	Clay	[7][5]
William Brigham	May 17, 1958	28	Quebec	Falling ice	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Paul Zanet	July 19, 1958	24	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Crawford Path	Washington	[7][5]
Judy March	July 19, 1958	17	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Crawford Path	Washington	[7][5]
Anthony Amico	August 22, 1959	44	Massachusetts	Heart attack	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Armand Falardeau	June 2, 1962	42	Connecticut	Hypothermia	Clay Loop Trail	Clay	[7][5]
Alfred K. Dickinson	September 12, 1962	67	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Nelson Crag	Washington	[5]
Hugo Stadtmueller	April 4, 1964	28	Massachusetts	Avalanche	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
John Griffin	April 4, 1964	39	Massachusetts	Avalanche	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Remi J. Bourdages	May 3, 1964	38	Massachusetts	Heart attack	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Daniel Doody	March 14, 1965	31	Connecticut	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Craig Merrihue	March 14, 1965	32	Massachusetts	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Eric Davies	September 17, 1967	7	New Hampshire	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Mary Frank	September 17, 1967	38	Michigan	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Monica Gross	September 17, 1967	2	Massachusetts	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Shirley Zorzy	September 17, 1967	22	Massachusetts	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Beverly Richmond	September 17, 1967	15	Connecticut	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Kent Woodard	September 17, 1967	9	New Hampshire	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Charles Usher	September 17, 1967	55	New Hampshire	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Esther Usher	September 17, 1967	56	New Hampshire	Accident	Cog Railway	Washington	[8]
Scott Stevens	January 26, 1969	19	California	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Robert Ellenberg	January 26, 1969	19	New York	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Charles Yoder	January 26, 1969	24	Wisconsin	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[7][5]
Mark Larner	February 9, 1969	17	New York	Fall	Un­known	Adams	[9][5]
Albert R. Tenney	1969	62	Un­known	Natural causes	Crawford Path	Jackson	[5]
Richard Fitzgerald	October 12, 1969	26	Massachusetts	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Paul Ross	November 29, 1969	26	Maine	Plane crash	Boott Spur	Washington	[6]: 296
Kenneth Ward	November 29, 1969	20	Maine	Plane crash	Boott Spur	Washington	[6]: 296
Cliff Phillips	November 29, 1969	26	Vermont	Plane crash	Boott Spur	Washington	[6]: 296
Irene Hennessey	March 21, 1971	47	Un­known	Plane crash	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[6]: 296
Thomas Hennessey	March 21, 1971	54	Un­known	Plane crash	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[6]: 296
Barbara Palmer	April 24, 1971	47	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Cog Railway	Washington	[9][5]
Betsy Roberts	August 28, 1971	16	Massachusetts	Drowning	Dry River	—	[9][5]
Geoffrey Bowdoin	October 10, 1971	18	Massachusetts	Drowning	Dry River	—	[9][5]
Christopher Coyne	May 17, 1972	21	Connecticut	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Richard Thaler	September 23, 1972	49	Massachusetts	Heart attack	King Ravine Trail	Adams	[9][5]
Peter Winn	April 21, 1973	16	New Hampshire	Fall while skiing	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Vernon Titcomb	August 22, 1974	56	California	Plane crash	Gray Knob	Adams	[6]: 296
John Titcomb	August 22, 1974	53	California	Plane crash	Gray Knob	Adams	[6]: 296
Karl Brushaber	December 23, 1974	37	Michigan	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Clayton Rock	October 23, 1975	80	Massachusetts	Heart attack	Lakes of the Clouds	Washington	[9][5]
Marguerite Snyder Cassidy	March 26, 1976	24	New Hampshire	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[10][5]
Scott Whinnery	May 8, 1976	25	New York	Fall in Hillman's Highway	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Robert Evans	July 12, 1976	22	Michigan	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
David Shoemaker	February 14, 1979	21	Massachusetts	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Paul Flanigan	February 14, 1979	26	Massachusetts	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Gary Saad	August 6, 1979	26	Connecticut	Fall	Webster Cliff Trail	Webster	[11]
Patrick Kelly	August 21, 1980	24	Connecticut	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Charles LaBonte	October 12, 1980	16	Massachusetts	Fall	Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail	Washington	[9][5]
James Dowd	October 13, 1980	43	Massachusetts	Heart attack	Tuckerman Ravine Trail	Washington	[9][5]
Peter Friedman	December 31, 1980	18	Connecticut	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Myles Coleman	August 8, 1981	73	New York	Stroke	Summit	Washington	[9][5]
Albert Dow	January 25, 1982	28	New Hampshire	Avalanche	Lion Head Trail	Washington	[12][5]
Kathy Hamann	March 28, 1982	25	Connecticut	Fall while climbing ravine	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
John Fox	May 15, 1982	47	Vermont	Stroke	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Edward Aalbue	January 1, 1983	21	New York	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Kenneth Hokenson	March 24, 1983	23	New York	Fall	Raymond Cataract	Washington	[12][5]
Mark Brockman	March 27, 1983	19	Massachusetts	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine Trail	Washington	[12][5]
Paula Silva	July 30, 1984	22	Massachusetts	Automobile crash	Mount Washington Auto Road	Washington	[13][6]: 298
Ernst Heimsoth	August 22, 1984	88	Vermont	Heart attack	Summit	Washington	[9][5]
Marjorie E. Frank	July 21, 1985	25	Massachusetts	Suicide	Valley Way Trail	Madison	[6]: 298
Basil Goodridge	March 15, 1986	56	Vermont	Heart attack	Castle Trail	Jefferson	[5][6]: 298 [14]
Robert Jones	April 5, 1986	53	Maine	Heart attack	Tuckerman Ravine Trail	Washington	[9][5]
McDonald Barr	August 24, 1986	52	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Un­known	Madison	[9][5]
Edwin B. Costa	June 3, 1990	39	New Hampshire	Fall	Great Gulf	Washington	[9][5]
Jimmy Jones	October 2, 1990	34	Texas	Plane crash	Great Gulf	Washington	[6]: 298
Russell Diedrick	October 2, 1990	24	Texas	Plane crash	Great Gulf	Washington	[6]: 298
Stewart Eames	October 2, 1990	27	Texas	Plane crash	Great Gulf	Washington	[6]: 298
Thomas Smith	February 24, 1991	41	Vermont	Avalanche	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[9][5]
Louis Nichols	January 27, 1992	46	New Hampshire	Hypothermia	Cog Railway	Washington	[9][5]
George Rimini	August 12, 1992	65	North Carolina	Heart attack	Alpine Garden	Washington	[9][5]
Derek Tinkham	January 15, 1994	20	Rhode Island	Hypothermia	Summit	Jefferson	[9][5]
Monroe Couper	February 26, 1994	40	New Jersey	Hypothermia	Alpine Garden	Washington	[9][5][15]
Erick Lattey	February 26, 1994	28	New Jersey	Hypothermia	Alpine Garden	Washington	[9][5][15]
Cheryl Weingarten	May 1, 1994	22	New York	Fall into a crevasse while sliding	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[16][5]
Sarah Nicholson	June 4, 1994	25	Maine	Falling ice	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Ronald Hastings	October 8, 1994	63	New Hampshire	Natural causes	Summit	Washington	[5]
Christopher Schneider	March 28, 1995	31	Vermont	Fall while skiing in Hillman's Highway	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Alexandre Cassan	January 5, 1996	19	Quebec	Avalanche	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5][17]
Donald Cote	February 2, 1996	48	Massachusetts	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Nicholas Halpern	February 25, 1996	50	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Mt. Pleasant Brook	Eisenhower	[5]
Robert Vandel	March 2, 1996	50	Maine	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[5]
Todd Crumbaker	March 24, 1996	35	Massachusetts	Avalanche	Gulf of Slides	Washington	[5]
John Wald	March 24, 1996	35	Massachusetts	Avalanche	Gulf of Slides	Washington	[5]
Stephen Carmody	September 27, 1997	29	Connecticut	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
John Gringas	May 29, 1999	44	Connecticut	Natural causes	Summit	Washington	[5]
Douglas Folger Thompson	October 30, 1999	66	New Hampshire	Natural causes	Summit	Madison	[5]
David McPhedran	February 20, 2000	42	Maine	Avalanche	Gulf of Slides	Washington	[5]
Ned Green	February 18, 2001	26	New Hampshire	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[5]
Hillary Manion	June 3, 2001	22	Ontario	Fall while skiing in The Chute	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[5]
Louise Chaput	November 15, 2001	52	Quebec	Homicide	Glen Boulder Trail	Washington	[18]
William Luquette	July 22, 2002	46	New Hampshire	Heart attack	Crawford Path	Pierce	[19]
Peter Busher	September 11, 2002	71	Virginia	Hypothermia	Gulfside Trail	Madison	[5]
William Callahan	September 29, 2002	57	Georgia	Natural causes	Un­known	Un­known	[5]
Scott Sandberg	November 29, 2002	32	Massachusetts	Avalanche	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[20][21][5]
Thomas Burke	November 29, 2002	46	New Hampshire	Avalanche	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[21][5]
Jason Gaumond	January 27, 2004	28	Massachusetts	Fall	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[5]
Rob Douglas	March 7, 2004	39	Vermont	Fall	Great Gulf	Clay	[5][22]
Jean Moreau	August 4, 2006	50	Quebec	Natural causes	Davis Path	Washington	[5][23]
Kevin Race	September 9, 2007	46	Maine	Missing	Hermit Lake	Washington	[24]
Peter Roux	January 18, 2008	39	Tennessee	Avalanche	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[25]
Peter Shintani	June 9, 2009	70	Ontario	Hypothermia	Lion Head Trail	Washington	[26]
Paul West	August 8, 2009	65	Massachusetts	Automobile crash	Mount Washington Auto Road	Washington	[27]
Wieslaw Walczak	November 21, 2009	62	New Hampshire	Fall off the Headwall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[28]
Christopher Baillie	July 18, 2010	24	New Jersey	Fall off the Headwall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[29]
Patrick Scott Powers	January 9, 2012	46	Massachusetts	Fall off the Headwall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[30]
Norman Priebatsch	April 1, 2012	67	Massachusetts	Fall into a crevasse	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[31]
Gary Muise	August 13, 2012	57	Massachusetts	Natural causes	Huntington Ravine	Washington	[32]
Richard Gabrielle	January 26, 2013	64	Texas	Fall	Great Gully, King's Ravine	Adams	[33]
James Watts	March 1, 2013	24	New York	Fall	Pinnacle Gully, Huntington Ravine	Washington	[34]
Luc Paquette	September 19, 2013	25	Quebec	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine Trail	Washington	[35]
Robert Fernandez	October 12, 2013	69	Maine	Heart attack	Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail	Washington	[36]
Gregory Larson	August 29, 2014	63	Maine	Heart attack	Caps Ridge Trail	Jefferson	[37]
Kate Matrosova	February 15, 2015	32	New York	Hypothermia	Star Lake Trail	Adams	[38]
Vernon R. Rippeon	June 21, 2015	51	Maryland	Heart attack	Crawford Path	Pierce	[39]
Tim Hallock	February 28, 2016	54	New York	Hypothermia	Castle Ravine Trail	Jefferson	[40][41]
Francois Carrier	May 9, 2016	47	Quebec	Hypothermia	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[42][43]
Rick Libby	October 15, 2016	62	New Hampshire	Heart attack	Caps Ridge Trail	Jefferson	[44]
Gregory Auriemma	July 20, 2017[a]	63	New Jersey	Un­known	Isolation Trail	Pierce	[45]
Rolf Diamon	September 16, 2017	66	Maine	Unknown medical event	Lion Head Trail	Washington	[46]
Jeremy Ullmann	February 10, 2019	37	Massachusetts	Fall	Central Gully, Huntington Ravine	Washington	[47][48]
Porith Stephon Sou	March 8, 2019	21	Massachusetts	Missing	Lion Head Winter Route	Washington	[49][50]
Nicholas Benedix	April 10, 2019	32	New Hampshire	Avalanche	Raymond Cataract	Washington	[51]
Sandra Lee	June 13, 2019	63	New Jersey	Hypothermia	Tuckerman Ravine Trail	Washington	[52]
Joseph M. Gormley	September 12, 2020	60	Massachusetts	Un­known	Summit	Jefferson	[53][54]
Ian Forgays	February 1, 2021	54	Vermont	Avalanche	Ammonoosuc Ravine	Washington	[55][56]
Timothy McClelland	August 14, 2021	66	Connecticut	Unknown medical event	Jewell Trail	Washington	[57][58]
Xi Chen	June 18, 2022	53	Massachusetts	Hypothermia	Gulfside Trail	Clay	[59][60]
John R. Quick Jr.	July 30, 2022	65	Missouri	Hypothermia	Jewell Trail	Washington	[61]
Yanick Belanger	August 25, 2022	46	Quebec	Heart attack	Summit	Washington	[62]
Jason Apreku	August 11, 2023	21	Pennsylvania	Un­known	Osgood Trail	Madison	[63]
Madison Saltsburg	March 9, 2024	20	Pennsylvania	Fall	Tuckerman Ravine	Washington	[64]
William Donovan	April 2024	65	Massachusetts	Crushed by boulder	Dry River Wilderness	Monroe	[65]
Anthony Antenucci	August 22, 2024	72	Virginia	Exposure	Gulfside Trail	Washington	[66][67]
Richard Perrault	June 16, 2025	70	Connecticut	Unknown medical event	Valley Way Trail	Madison	[68]
William Davis	July 16, 2025	79	Florida	Unknown	Summit	Washington

Notes

1. The date his body was discovered.